Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-02-24


stock, commands IN wiieA Asvesy en-
listed man had the sweet hzagns which
indicated that he was & sfsr. There
was the Vermont Briga ths Excel
sior Brigade. Paddy xIn's Resu-
lars" famous Maine, NJ York. and
New England regiments lie Hhole
divisions OF stanch trOops zeh As the
Pennsylvania Reserves. ere were
dozens and dozens OF Co 6&nas num-
bering 100. 200. 800 msS ID in the
trenches. and every on of |lAese men
was fighter. What woaI bAse been
easier than 10 have flrms :. charging
column ont of these soldiers, every
one of whom had entered the service
from patriotic motives, and Who were
willing to die rather than 60 have a
slaveholdingrepub establiAsdsou
of Mason and Dixon's line?
These men, once they had seen the
ground and understood the nature
and Importance of the duty they were
called upon to perform. could have
charged as desperately as Macdonald $
column did at Wagram. Again. I
ask, did it require Nspoleonic talent
to select these men? Would it have
been a dreadful breach of military de.
corum for the officers selected to lead
troops in the charge to have massed
their slender brigades ana addressed
a few fiery words to their soldiers, ex-
planning what was to be done, and to
have dwelt on the Importance of doing
it or dying in the attempt? Would it
have required an extraordinary mill
tary genious to have formed a great
battery of sixty or eighty guns, the
drivers in the saddle and the cannon.
eers at their posts, and had this pow.
erful engine of war ready to launch
into the battle as soon as a road was
leveled through the Confederate en-.
trenchments? =? Would this have
the highest order of military talent,
or would it have been a display of
common sense such as thousands of
the enlisted men possessed? I say that
it would have been common sense
only.
What was done? As I said, the
fort which was to be blown up was
opposite the Ninth Corps line, and
because of some military rule in force
among West Pointers, it was said to
be necessary to draw the troops to
form the assaulting column from the
ranks of the Ninth Corps, notoriously
the poorest corps in the army, or else
General Burns:de's honor would be
touched, and he might have ended
the war by resigning! The Ninth
Corps was formed of four divisions,
one of which was black. OF so little
use was this corps as an effective Of
fensive war engine that Grants in-
/ spector-gene:al, sent by him to see
which division of the corps was best
fitted to make the assault, reported
that the black division was the best
10 the corps. Condemnation could
not be more severe. Instead of kick.
ing Burnside and his claim to have
his troops make the assault (no one
ever heard that he wanted to lead his
troops in person. out of his tent
promptly after he received the report
ofhis inspector general, Grant affected
to disbelieve it, and decided that one
of the white divisions should make
/ the assault.
The be-starred warriors who com
manded the white divisions drew lots
to determine which of them should do
the work. Do not imagine scene
similar to that which Charles Resde
vividly pictured in White Lies, "
where the eager French colonels, the
children born of the Revolution, stood
in their trenches before the Prussian
works, and, with eyes blazing and set
lips, drew, with hands trembling with
eagerness, lots from hat to see who
should have the honor Of leading the
forlorn hope against the Prussian fort,
and where the losers were affected by
their misfortune as gamblers who hai
staked all and lost. That was not
like it at all. These heroes of single
and double stars, these fierce knights
of the tent, drew lots to see which OF
them should stay ont. And the poo:-
est general of the three, q man who
was invariably spoken Of by the en-
listed men as an epsuleted coffee
boiler, drew the lot which hundreds
of men who served their country with
muskets in their hands would have
given their lives to have secured.
General Burnside did not trouble
himself to have the abatis in front of
his works removed His men c,,,ll